conference committee. >> lastly here, how much of a timetable are conferees facing to reach an agreement, and what's expected to happen today? >> well, right now they're looking at a june 30 deadline of when they kumpt currently passed and signed extensions would run out, the highway programs. of course they can always have another 90-day extension, and that certainly wouldn't then hurt us. we're just going to get a lot of open statements that will kind of set the flavor from the conferees. there's 47 people on the conference committee. many of them coming from very different ends of the political spectrum. so thir going to lay out what their policy goals are for this, and as we discussed earlier, some of quite desperate. >> nathan herst with congressional quarterly. thank you for the update. >> anytime. thanks. again we are live from the senate public works committee hearing room. members of the house and senate, just about to begin discussing

legislation on the nation's highways and mass transit projects. this should get under way in just a couple of moments here on c sban 3. in the meantime a senate working on a bill doubling student loan interest rates on july 1st. senate voting earlier today, the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the student loan failed by a vote of 52-45. senator snow of maine voting present. you can see the senate live on our companion network c-span2. the house in right now debating 2013 federal spending. members considering a bill setting spending for the next budget year for the commerce and justice departments as well as science programs. the republican measure proposed $51 billion in discretionary spending 3% from this year and suts 30 programs. can you see live coverage of house on our companion network c-span.

good afternoon, everybody. the transportation bill will come to order. i welcome each and every one of you to this house senate conference. it's been seven years since we've had such a conference. so it's an exciting moment in history, i think, and we're very pleased to have you here. as per a long-standing agreement between the house and senate, we alternate back and forth between the two bodies on taking the responsibility for chairing the transportation bill conference. so i'll begin by recognizing chairman mica, who will be a key partner in our effort to complete the conference to nominate the chairman of this conference. chairman mica. >> well, thank you, and good

afternoon. as you mentioned, senator boxer, the house and senate alternate on chairing the conference, and the last bill and conference safety was chaired by congressman don young, sits with us as a conferee. back, you also mentioned in june of 2005. some seven years ago. so this is a historic gathering and occasion. and now it's the turn for the senate to chair this conference, in keeping with that, bipartisan, and bicameral tradition, it's my honor to nominate senator barbara boxer as the chairman of the conference for the surface transportation bill. is there a second? >> yes. first of all, let me say that we have worked tirelessly on this thing for a long period of time,

and while barbara boxer and i, senator boxer and i, don't agree on a whole lot of things, but on this, we agree on infrastructure. we think -- and i say to all of my conservative friends here that i've had that ranking for a long time of being the, of always one of the first or second most conservative member, but i also say that on issues like national security and infrastructure, i'm a big spender. that's what i think we're supposed to be doing here, and i couldn't be more pleased to have worked with senator boxer during the development of our bill and it's a great pleasure to second her nomination. >> thank you. hearing no objection, i'm pleased to hand the gavel over and congratulate senator boxer as chair of the transportation bill conference committee. >> gentlemen, thank you so much, both of you, for your warm words. i return them, and i think we will really celebrate each and every one of us when we get this

work done and i believe we will. so i would now like to nominate congressman mica as the vice chairman of his conference. is there objection to that? hearing none, it is so ordered and you are now vice chairman. >> thank. >> all right. now before i begin my opening statement i want to lay out the process we're following in order to get our work done. in our conference meeting today, each committee chairman will have up to five minutes to share his or her thoughts, and others will have up to three minutes. after today's meeting, staff will begin working on behalf of the conferees to address all the issues of the conference. those issues include -- and i'll list them -- one, highways, bridges, roads and routes. two, finance. three, transit. four, highway safety. five, the restore act, and, six, other issues, such sass -- the harbor maintenance trust

fund, the key styne pipeline and coal ash. we must finish our work without delay because we must provide enough time for the conference report to pass both houses and get to the president's desk before the current extension expires on june 30th. so we must complete the conference report by early june in order to meet this time frame. if it is necessary, we will reconvene right back here in this room at that time. without this -- microphone. i will begin my opening statement followed by chairman mica. we'll go back and forth, senate then house, chairman and ranking members followed by all others in order of seniority. so we're going to go right down these tables. and now we could start my five minutes, please. colleagues i trust we all know how fortunate and how blessed we are to have this opportunity to save or create 3 million jobs

and protect thousands of businesses as we meet the needs of america's transportation system. let me make this point. senator schumer in particular to you. there's something wrong with that. there is no other group of americans that get this chance. none. nowhere. does anyone else have this opportunity. failure is not an option for us. not when 70,000 of our bridges are deficient. not when 50% of our roads are below standard, and not when construction businesses and workers are suffering. not when thousands of middle-class construction jobs are being lost right now due to the extensions. because of these endless extensions, many states have limited the funds available to hire workers for construction projects due to funding uncertainty, costing thousands of jobs across america. right now. in each of our states.

what we do here today and in the days and weeks ahead is ramifications for so many businesses. today, just a couple of hours ago, i met with a california oil refinery and learned that one-third of their business is asphalt production. and that business has declined 40% to 50%. the uncertainty of funding for transportation programs is hurting them badly. in addition, i learned from the association of equipment dealers that the same uncertainty is caused construction businesses to rent equipment rather than to buy equipment. and this has depressed the business of the equipment dealers, placing a further drag on the economy and increasing unemployment. as we work to pass a new transportation bill, here is a picture i want you to keep in mind. it's a super bowl stadium filled to capacity. look at it. imagine 12 of these stadiums filled to capacity.

that's how many unemployed construction workers there are today. 1.2 million. so when we start getting into arts or battles or fights, think about those families and think about the businesses who hire them. they're counting on us, and they should. look, if senator inhofe and senator boxer can agree on a bill, then we all can agree on a bill. if senator sessions and senator sanders can agree on a bill, we can all agree on a bill. if senator baucus and senator blount can agree on a bill, we can all agree on a bill. now, many pundits and experts have predicted doom and gloom which it comes to this bill. they were wrong in the past. they said it was over, it was gone. it would never happen. we'd never pass through the senate. the house wouldn't act. we'd never be here. we're here. now the ball is in our court. those of us around this table. it is our job, and we will do it. and we have the wind at our

backs, because we have a senate bill map-21 that is a reform bill that received 74 votes. it protects and creating 3 million job, and a million of those came out of a program, i worked with senator inhofe and chairman mica on as well as mr. rayhall. it's an expanded program which leverages values 30-1. an additional million jobs bp so i want you all to know from the house in particular, this is this bill, map-21 a real reform bill. it consolidates 90 programs, just in the highway part alone, into 30. it eliminates earmarks. it gives states flexible. it establishes performance measures. accelerates project delivery that i know is so important to you, and it sets up a new freight program. the country needs this to pass a surface transportation bill so we can fix our aging infrastructure, put people back

to work, boost the economy. the health of our businesses and our workers depend on it and, again, why do we have the wind at our backs? because look at some of the groups that are supporting us. just look at this. this is really amazing. just a few of the 500 aaa, afl cio american association of state highway and transit official, the public transportation association, the transportation builder, the civil engineer, the truckers. the general contractors. the equipment dealers. the distributors. the equipment manufacturers, the u.s. chamber of commerce, the u.s. conference of mayors and, again, i say, ifs afl cio and chamber of commerce can work together, surely we can work together here. in addition to our core mission, we have a wonderful opportunity with the restore act, the harbor maintenance trust fund, the secure rural schools program, so colleagues, i look forward to working with each and every one of you. my door is always open, and i

know we can succeed. it's my honor to turn to vice chairman mica. >> well, thank you so much, senator boxer, and thank you for your leadership of this conference and also for working with me as we've tried to come down this long road of getting us to a conference today. as some of you may recall, we started on the house side in beckley, west virginia, with mr. rayhall and his district. he went across the country to -- we went across country to hear from the american people and a lot of stakeholders, and people who don't have jobs, and communities that are waiting for the congress to make a decision on infrastructure. we conducted a bipartisan, bicameral hearing, probably one of the first i recall, out in los angeles together. so i think there's a strong

commitment. not only from our committee but everyone who's gathered here. now, we've done, let's see, under the other side, there were six extensions on the transportation. there was a shutdown when we thought mr. oberstar and i were going for a six-year bill. that was not to be, and i regret that. mr. oberstar was a wonderful individual that did all he could to move this process forward and i was saddened when the administration at that time opted actually to cut his legs out from underneath him for a short-term measure, and that's really what puts us in this place. a lot of people say this can't be done, but i've got senator rockefeller and i've got senator hutchinson over there, and we had 17 extensions before i became the chair of the committee some 14 months ago,

and we did an faa bill. it wasn't what everybody wanted. everyone would have done it a little bit differently, but we got it done, and it is the law of the land. the president signed that on the 14th. so i think this can be done, and i think it's important that we do get it done. there are millions and millions of americans who don't have jobs, particularly in the hard-hit construction industry. but while we all share a commitment to build our nation's infrastructure. i think we've got to really focus on what is in the transportation bill, fanned it does get the job done. i think in order to achieve that goal, and it is an important goal for people without a job, or crumbling infrastructure for this country that we include some serious reforms. you can't just continue to throw money at problems. they tried that in the stimulus

bill. 2 1/2 years after they passed the infrastructure bill 35shgs% infrastructure. 30% of money was still stuck in washington. so we heard in every one of those hearings from beckley, west virginia, to los angeles, the need for reforms. so i'm here today to say, let's not just spend more money or throw money at problems. let's have some serious reforms that get people working, get projects moving across this country. and let me set some markers out here. we're going to have to pay for this and pay for it responsibilitiably. we're not going to raise taxes. and anyone who wants to raise taxes, you're on the wrong conference committee. and i think we must not include earmarks. we did the faa bill without that. and we can't add to the federal bureaucracy. we kind of cut red tape paperwork and start streamlining

the process to actually get thing dunce. so that's the message i come with today. shuttle ready has become a national joke. we saw that again in stimulus. talk to any of your folks out there. they'll tell you that if the federal government gets involved i think you came to some of those hearings, those of you that are on our committee, they said, if the federal government gets involved, the rule of thumb is the project take twos to three times as long, and it costs three or four times as much. and that just is not the way that it goes. so i think we've got some presumes that are broken. we need to consolidate some of the duplicative programs that we have, and really roll up our sleeves and do a better job. we've got to do more with less. the american people demand it. our future for the country requires it, and we're only going to burden our children and grandchildren if we don't address again doing things in a

different fashion than we've done today. so all of my colleagues, and we've got some great other leaders you're going to hear from senator boxer that deal with different components of this. we're all committed to work together, and get it done. thank you, and i yield back. >> thank you, senator inhofe. >> thank you madam chairman. i got my remarks short, because everything's been said over here by both parties. i would only say this -- they're there are people on the senate side, anyway that said there's no way in the world you're going to get a bill in an election year, this close to an election. and we fooled them. we did. now they're saying the same thing. you'll never be able to get this done. we have the same contentious issues to deal with, and i think most of us, certainly in this room, know the cost of the, of what it is to work on extensions.

and i've said, i think when i segued the nomination of senator boxer that you know, those of us who are conservative, and it's been my effort, because there were several house members that i don't know yet, that were not there when i was serving in the house to let those conservative members know my feeling, and that is, having been ranked as a very, you know, legalist conservative many times, that conservative position is to pass this thing. you know, if we appropriate on extensions it costs about 35%. in other words, we're threeing about 35% of the funds that would otherwise be spent on infrastructure, by not doing it. it's hard to explain to a lot of people. senator boxer talking about some of the reforms. i won't repeat that. let me mention one. this is probably the most meaningful to those of you that are the conservative members and that is unenhancements. you know the written into the law, 10% the service transportation program or 2% of

the total funding has to be on, following this category of enhancements. it wb highway beautification, museums, all that stuff. a lot of "us" including myself, conservative, felt that is not a good program. if it's going to be -- you've got to keep in mind, people are out there paying the -- the taxes at the pump. they expect that it should be going to roads and highways and bridges, construction, and not environmental enhancements. so a compromise we came up with really satisfies, i think, everybody. because in my state of oklahoma if i don't want to spend that 2% on that what categorize as enhancements i can use it for unfunded mandates for some of the requirements we have out there, and that pretty much solves the problem. kind of gives local control of things. a lot of people are saying, well, you ought to be really proud of the democrats on the committee in the senate, because they agreed to some things that we didn't believe -- and we did

the same thing. we really got together. i've got to remember in years past, on the t & i committee, eight years. your daddy who sup there chairing the thing, bud schuster. john paul ham per schmidt, norman etta, and we always had -- i remember when norm was appointed to a position. not too long ago, and i called him up and i said i want to -- congratulate you. this is the only republican hoon came to your fund-raisers back when i was in the house. he stead must be -- that's what it was. that's what we had in common. we knew what was important. national defense and infrastructure. that's what it's all about. that's what we're supposed to be doing here and that's what we're going to be do with this bill. so i'm anxious to get on with this thing and get it done, and i really believe i, i have every expectation, that we're going to do able to do that which the vast majority in america want done that is to have highway

reauthorization bill. thank you, madam chairman. >> thank you so much. representative rayhall followed by senator baucus. >> thank you, chairman boxer. congratulations on your being selected chair. let me start by being as optimistic as i can in saying how happy i am that we are at this point. it's good news that we are, that we've come this far in the process, and i have every deal of confidence that we will not botch this opportunity nap we will seize this taunt to get e opportunity to get the job done for the american people. i also want to congratulate the new members of this conference. some eight on the majority house side. i recall when i first came fleer 1977 as a freshman member to obtain a position on the conference committee was quite a feat. i was able to. one of the few freshman in my freshmen year to get on committee. here we have eight. so i congratulate each of you. i think you've broken some new

ground already. noi let's get on for breaking real ground for the american people. i've had the honor of serving on every conference committee for the last 20 years that's dealt with transportation nap goes back to iced tea, and i know how important time is. time is of the essence. those conferences all shared a common goal. a desire to work together in a bipartisan fashion, in a bipartisan fashion, to develop final legislation to create jobs and to improve our nation's transportation network. i have the greatest deal of confidence. i'm optimistic, that this conference will continue to fine transcription. today we have some 2 million construction and manufacturing workers that are still waiting for jobs. capable workers. they're waiting for jobs, and it's past time for the congress to act. we must indeed seize this

opportunity to pave the way for economic progress and job creation. the time to act is now. including today, i'm sure many of you have looked at the legislative time schedule. we have only 22 -- 22 -- legislative days in which to act before the current expiration expires on june 30th of this year. we cannot afford to waste any time. our workers are waiting. our road contractors are waiting. the american people are waiting. for too many, especially those in the northern states, the construction season has already started. the time to let contracts has passed or is expiring very soon. and we should be letting these contractors know with certainty, not at 90 day clips at a time, but for long-term robust

extension of time, we should let them know that they can hire workers. that they can put their willing and capable work force back to work on ground. we have to rebuild our nation. we've seen what other nations are doing in the way of infrastructure spending. as a percentage of theirs gross domestic product, they're literally leaving the united states in the dust, and we all know what those figures are. so it's time that congress gets its act in gear. we cannot let our hard heads get in the way of hard-hats. we must quit taking political jabs at one another and indeed put jobs at the forefront for the american worker. so as i conclude, because i want to give everybody the chance to speak and not use all of my time, i do want to say to each of you as a member of this conference committee, first, congratulations on being in such an important position and,

second, let's seize this opportunity in a bipartisan fashion to do what the american people have long expected us to do. that is, to get the job done. thank you, madam chair. chairman boxer. >> thank very much. senator baucus. >> thank you, madam chairman. first, thank you for your leadership. it's been stellar. as you've worked with senator inhofe and i thank you for it. i spent last week at home with the people i work for and my montana bosses sent me back with one clear -- jobs. interstate international trade corridor. it's also home to montana's highest unemployment rate. we have low unemployment in eastern montana. have high, double digit in western montana. on thursday i sat down with business leaders, local officials, contractors, to

discuss the bypass. what's that? this is a truck thrill fare that skirts west around the traffic moving more efficiently around surrounding communities meaning easier access for trucks that support american job, less time for tourists sitting in their cars and more time spending money at local businesses and dozens of construction jobs. construction season has started. 14,000 montana jobs, 1.6 million jobs across our country, depends on this highway bill. the bipartisan senate bill received unanimous vote from the public works committees centers. and 75% of full senate supported it. it provides certainty the communities need to plant and begin construction. invest in highway jobs without adding a dime to the deficit in fact, our official scorekeeper is cbo says it reduces the deficit.